LAHORE, May 6: A controversy over wheat yield between the government and growers is deepening day by day, with both parties trying to substantiate their claims.

The government claimed on Tuesday that the province could easily cross the target of achieving 15.6 million tons and may even touch 16 million tons. But the growers believed that the Punjab would suffer a deficit of one million tons, and the exaggerated figures given by the government were meant to cover up its incompetence.

Jehangir Tareen, adviser to the Punjab chief minister, told Dawn that the crop condition turned better than the planners had expected. The estimates of the crop had not come out of the blue, but were the product of crop reporting centre that had been working for the last three decades, he said. “If there is a margin of error in these figures which a mafia is out to prove, logically it should have been there for the last 30 years,” he argued.

Wheat price is stable in the market because exporters, millers and the food department were purchasing it. But a mafia want to prove that the wheat production is not up to the target, pressing the government to ban the inter-provincial movement of the crop. Once this happens, the price will crash and it can mint money, he said.

By banning the wheat movement, it also wanted to drive private buyer out of market and help price crash. The government has no intention of restricting the wheat movement and every body was free to buy wheat from anywhere in the country.

The farmers’ bodies, on the other hand, claimed that the Punjab might face deficit of one million tons. The government was slapping section 144 and banning movement of wheat in some districts in the province to isolate the district, purchase the wheat and meet its procurement targets.

Meanwhile, the Kissan Board of Pakistan provided journalists with copies of orders of the Muzaffargarh district Nazim, who had imposed section 144 in the district and banned the wheat movement.

Mr Tareen admitted that the Muzaffargarh Nazim had imposed ban and it was contradictory to the government’s policy. However, he hoped the issue would be settled soon. He added that the movement was free in rest of the 33 districts.

He counted timely rains, better weedcides coverage, enhanced use of fertiliser and certified seed as factors that had helped meet the target.

But the growers said excessive rain water that remained stagnant for many days in the field, neglect of the barani (rain-fed) areas, late start of sugar cane crushing season that resulted in late clearing of fields for wheat sowing and its consequences and absence of balance use of fertiliser were reasons for their fear of reduction in production.

Mr Tareen also claimed that the procurement had recently picked up substantially. “It was around 70,000 to 80,000 tons a day till Sunday, but it shot up to 121,000 tons on Monday. Around 1.2 million tons of wheat had been procured so far, he said, adding that this showed the government’s intention.

Refusing to buy Mr Tareen’s line of argument, the growers alleged that the government officials were trying to cover up their incompetence. “By doing so they may lead the province to a bigger wheat crisis,” they feared.